Loudoun County and Air Guns

[totes6]

I was stumbling through Loudoun County's local ordinances and found a section on Air Guns. Now correct me if I am wrong here, but I thought the VA General Assembly preempted all ordinances covering the discharge of Air/Pneumatic guns last year and the law went into effect July 1st, 2011.

684.02 DISCHARGING PNEUMATIC GUNS IN HEAVILY POPULATED AREAS.
(a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to provide against the shooting of air-operated,
carbon dioxide gas-operated and spring-operated weapons in heavily populated areas of the County,
under authority granted the County in Section 15.2-1209 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, as
amended.
(b) Definition. APneumatic gun,@ for the purposes of this section, means and includes any air
gun, air rifle and similar device designed and intended to expel a projectile through a gun barrel of
any length by means of expansion or release of compressed carbon dioxide gas or compressed air or
by a combination of spring action and compressed air. The term Apneumatic gun@ includes, but is
not limited to, devices commonly referred to as paint ball guns, which operate by these means.
(c) Unlawful Acts. No person shall discharge any pneumatic gun in the unincorporated
portion of the County, except those areas zoned A-3, A-10 or A-25 under the Loudoun County
Zoning Ordinance. This section shall not be deemed to prohibit the following acts:
(1) Any shooting or discharge of pneumatic guns upon a lawfully existing target, trap or
skeet range;
(2) Any shooting or discharge of pneumatic guns upon a target range operated by any
police department or other law enforcement agency;
(3) Any discharge of pneumatic guns in an entirely indoor target range, provided that
adequate provisions are made to retain within the structure all projectiles
discharged; and
(4) Any discharge of an unloaded pneumatic gun, or any discharge of a pneumatic gun
not resulting in the expulsion of a projectile.
(Ord. 00-07. Passed 7-8-00; Ord. 05-04. Passed 5-10-05; Ord. 06-05. Passed
3-14-06.)

So I am wondering why this ordinance is still on the books? Any one know if this has already been pointed out to the board of supervisors?

[jrswanson1]

PWC has something similar, but state law preempts it, so I go ahead and shoot my airsoft pistols in my back yard

[jdonovan]

state law preempts, the BOS has not re-done the county ordinances.